Shoot Six
1965
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
acrylic on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 142.24 × 142.24 cm (56 × 56 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Walter Hopps in memory of Bradley Pischel)
Accession Number
2015.19.142
Art Historical Context
Sam Gilliam's *Shoot Six* (1965) is a vibrant acrylic painting on canvas, measuring a perfect square of 56 × 56 inches. Created early in the artist's career, it captures the bold energy of mid-1960s American abstraction. Gilliam, a pioneering African American painter based in Washington, D.C was part of the Washington Color School, a group for immersive, color-drenched works that emphasized process over representation. Acrylic, a relatively new medium at the time, allowed for its fluid application and vivid hues, revolutionizing painting by enabling techniques like staining and pouring directl...